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Philippines
Scuba Diving Boracay
Boracay is a beautiful tropical island situated at about 200 miles (315km) to
the south of Manila,
the capital city of Philippines.
It is one of Philippines'
most popular tourist attraction because it is consistently voted by
credible scuba diving and travel magazines as one of the top scuba diving
destinations and beautiful beaches in the world.
There are many scuba
diving operators in Boracay offering dive safaris to top class hard to
reach dive spots such as the Sibuyan Sea, Tablas, Romblon and Semirara. Closer
home to Boracay are also some world class scuba diving sites catering to
divers of varying diving skills and certifications. If you are a non diver,
you will find snorkeling in Boracay just as enthralling because its rich and
diverse marine life can be found close to the coast of its beaches.
Dive spots in Borocay
Friday's Rock is a nearby rocky outcrop in Boracay's western shore. Here is an
example of what you can expect when scuba diving in Boracay. Expect to see a
variety of brilliant colored soft and hard corals, flittering butterfly fish,
curious wrasses, darting damsels, playful blue tangs, ominous stingrays and
snappers. Probing under the rocks and corals, you will encounter shy but big
scorpion fishes and lion fishes.
There are two awesome dive spots near the main island known as Punta1
and Punta2. Punta 1 is a shallower dive of the two spots and is a drop off of
about 24m (80ft) and Punta 2 starts at 30m (100ft) and goes way down to about
50m (170ft). These two dive spots are home to various species of garoupas,
trigger fish, angel fish, sweetlips, tuna, barracuda and the occasional reef
shark.
At the southeast coast of Boracay is Crocodile Island (the
island is named as such because of its shape). This island a very popular
scuba diving site and is a wall dive of about 25m (80ft) in depth at its
bottom. This dive spot is very rich in marine life so much so that many
species of fish and corals make its permanent home here.
Crocodile Island is also residence to some
poisonous sea snakes. Some of these snakes can be as long as two meters
(6.4ft) in length. Scuba divers need to be wary of sea snakes since all of
them are poisonous and their bites can be lethal.
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Another excellent dive site near the main island is the Laurel Island. This
dive site is for more experienced divers as the current here can be rather
intimidating and because of this, drift diving is the main menu here. On top
of that, the strong currents encourage corals to open up their bright yellow
and orange polyps to feed on tiny microscopic planktons. These corals are
festooned to the wall of an 8m (25ft) tunnel at the tip of the island. You can
also find big colorful sponges and huge waving gorgonian sea fans here.
At northern tip of Boracay is a dive site known asYapak. This is a deep
wall diving location starting at about 30m(95ft) and descending into the depth
of about 60m (190 ft). Again, the current here can be extremely tricky. Here,
scuba divers will encounter larger pelagic fishes such as barracudas and
various species of reef sharks.
Hammerhead sharks and giant manta rays are the main attractions when
diving in Yapak. Other fascinating dive spots in Boracay are Carabao
(buffalo), Cathedral Cave, Buruanga, Black Rock and Dog Drift. Is it any
wonder why Boracay
resort island in the Philippines is consistently rated as one of the best
scuba diving destinations in the world? - Scuba Diving In
Boracay was posted on 3rd December 2007
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